Charles ‘Chalk’ Bennett Edwards POWDERLY — Charles “Chalk” Bennett Edwards died at 6:50 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010, at his home in Powderly. He was born July 11, 1918, in Muhlenberg County to James Thomas Edwards and Maud May Snodgrass Edwards. In the 1930s, he worked in Harlan County as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal program (Civilian Conservation Corps, CCC camps) building roads in the mountains. He married Margaret “Midge” Helen Holmes on Nov. 20, 1940. From 1942 to 1945 he served in World War II as an antitank gunner, fighting in the European and African theaters and attaining the rank of sergeant. He worked as an underground coal miner for 35 years at the Jernigan Mine in Powderly, W.A. Wickliff Coal Co. and Island Creek Coal Co., before retiring in 1981. From 1971 to 1978, he served as a school board member for the Muhlenberg County Board of Education. He was a member of Powderly United Methodist Church for more than 50 years, serving as the Sunday school superintendent for most of this time. He was preceded in death by his parents; his brothers and sisters; a granddaughter, Vanessa Edwards Wells in 1992; and a grandson, Eddie Barnett in 2005. Survivors include his wife of 69 years, Margaret “Midge” Helen Edwards; five children, Tom Edwards of Chicago, Ann (Billie) Faith of Greenville, Charlie Edwards of Henderson, Carole (Harold) Mullins of Hazard and Mike Edwards of Powderly; 10 grandchildren; 25 great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren. Services are at 1 p.m. today at Tucker Funeral Home in Central City, with the Rev. Gaithel Jenkins officiating. Burial will be in Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Powderly.